Travel to France
France is our nearest and most accessible continental European neighbour, and there are many ways to travel there. If you would like to travel by air or rail, we can book flights, ferries and train tickets for you in most cases, subject to a booking fee.
Below we have listed the main flight, train and ferry/self-drive routes to our French destinations. Many routes are seasonal, and therefore operate during the main summer months only. We make every effort to keep this page up to date, but all schedules and routes are subject to change and are provided for guidance only.
Please call us to discuss your requirements and make your booking.
Eurostar + car hire or taxi
Prefer to avoid a long drive through France? Travel from London St Pancras to Paris, then transfer to connections to southern and western France. For example, for holidays in Île de Ré, you can take the Eurostar to Paris, change from Gare du Nord to Gare Montparnasse, and then take the TGV fast train to La Rochelle and a quick 15 to 30-minte taxi ride across the bridge and direct to your villa. From Gare de Lyon in Paris you can also connect to Bordeaux and Biarritz for the Aquitaine Coast, or Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Nice for the Provence region. We can arrange to have your hire car ready and waiting for you to collect at one of the main stations.
LeShuttle
If you want to take your own car, LeShuttle gets you and your vehicle across the Channel from Folkestone to Calais in just 35 minutes. See below for a rough idea of non-stop driving times from Calais - remember to add time for breaks!
| Destination | Approx. distance | Approx driving time from Calais |
| La Rochelle | 800km | 7h 30min |
| Cognac | 830km | 7hr 45min |
| Périgueux | 950km | 9hr 30min |
| Saint Junien | 960km | 9hr 30min |
| Hossegor | 1050km | 10hr 30min |
| Biarritz | 1100km | 10hr 45min |
| Avignon | 1150km | 11hr |
| Gordes | 1200km | 11hr 30min |
| Uzès | 1200km | 11hr 30min |
Brittany Ferries
Longer sea crossings work well if you want a break in your journey, and put you closer to your final destination for our western France villas. These routes give you time to rest if you've already driven a long way to get to the south coast of England, or the chance to sleep through part of the journey with an overnight crossing.
| From | T0 | Duration | Operated by | |
| Portsmouth | Cherbourg | 5hr 45 min | Brittany Ferries | |
| Plymouth | Roscoff | 5hr 30 min | Brittany Ferries | |
| Portsmouth | St Malo | 11hr | Brittany Ferries | |
| Portsmouth | Caen | 5hr 45min | Brittany Ferries | |
| Pool | Cherbourg | 4hr 30min | Brittany Ferries | |
| Portsmouth | Bilbao | 28h 30min | Brittany Ferries | |
| Plymouth | Santander | 20hr 15min | Brittany Ferries |
Flights to France
If time is short, flying makes the most sense. See below for the main airports in each region, or check the location details on your the web description of you chosen villa to find your closest one.
| Destination | Nearest Airports |
| Île de Ré | La Rochelle, Nantes or Bordeaux |
| The Dordogne/SW France | Bergerac, Limoges or Toulouse |
| The Aquitaine Coast | Biarritz, Bordeaux or Pau |
| Provence | Marseille, Nice, Avignon or Montpellier |
